Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1887-07-22

with tar and pitch and then set fire to IL
iuinlne the darkness. That was Paul's
KING. But the next moment he goes into the
realm Of Him whose reign Is love. and
whose courts are paved with love, and
whose throne is set on pillars Of love, and
whose scepter is adorned with Jewels of
love, and whose palace is lighted with
love, and whose lifetime Is an eternity of
love. When Paul was leaving SO much
ON this side the pillar of martyrdom to
gam so much on the other side, do you
wonder at the cheerful valedictory of the
text; "The time of my departure is at
handF
Now, why cannot all the old people of
tins congregation have the same holy glea
9s that aged man hadl Cherries l., when
he was cdmbing his head, found a gray
hair, and he sent it to the queen as a
great joke; but old age is really no joke
at ALL For the last forty years you have
been dreading that which ought to have
being an exhilaration. You say you must
fear the struggle at the moment the soul
and body part But millions have en-
dured that moment, and why not we as
can we. Besides this, oil medical men
agree In saying that there is probably no
struggle at all at the last moment-not so
much pain as the prick of pin, the seeming
signs of distress being altogether involuntary
But you say: at is the uncertainty of the
future" Now, child of God, do not play the
infidel. After God has filled the Bible till il
can hold no more with the stories of the good
things ahead, better not talk about uncer.
tainties.
But YOU say, 81 cannot bear to think Of
parting from friends here" II you are old
you have more friends in heaven than
here. Just take the census. Take some
large sheet of paper and begin to record
the names of those who have emigrated
to the other shore; the companions of your
school days, your early business associ-
htes, the friends of mid life and those who
more recently went away. Can it be that
they have been gone SO long you do not
care any more about them and you do not
want their society! Oh, no! There have
could not endure it another moment away
from their blessed companionship. They
have gone. You say you would not like
to bring them back to this world Of
trouble, even if you had the power. 1t
would not do to trust you. God would
not give you resurrection poweg. Before
tomorrow morning you wouI be rau-
tling at the gates of the cemetery, crying
to the departed: "Come back to the cradle
where you sleptl Come back to the hall
where you used to play Come back to
the table where you used to sit " and there
would be a great burglary in heaven. No,
no! God will not trust you with resurrection
pOWeTy DuU ue compromises Ile HlttSGSl anu
says You cannot bring them where you
are" They are more lovely now than ever.
Were they beautiful here, they are more
beautiful there.
Besides that, it is more healthy there for
you than here, aged man; better climate
there than these hot summers and cold
winters and late springs; better hearing;
better eye-sight; more tonic in the air;
more perfume in the bloom: more sweet
ness in the song. Do you not feel, aged
man, sometimes, as though you would like to
get your arm and foot free3 Do you rot
feel as though you would like to throw away
spectacles and canes and crutches? Would
you not like to feel the spring and elias
| ticity and mirth of an eternal boy
hood? When the point at which you start
from this worlds old age, and the point tc
which you go is eternal juvenescence, aged
man, clap your hands at the anticipation
and say, in perfect rapture of soul: ''The
time ofmy departure is at hand"
| remark, again, all those ought to fee
this JOY Of the text who have a holy curl
osity to know what is beyond this earthly
terminus And who has not any curiosity
about it9 Paul, suppose, had the most
satisfactory view of heaven, and he says
at doth not yet appear what we shall be. ,
1t is like looking through a broken tele
scope: "Now we see through a glas>
darkly.n Can you tell me anything abou
thousand questions about it that l cannot
answer | ask you a thousand questions
about it that you cannot answer And d.
you wonder that Paul was so glad wher
martyrdom gave him chance to go owe
and make discoveries in that blessed
| countryG
1 hope some day, by the grace of God, to g
over and see for myself; but not now. Nc
well man, no prospered man, | think, want
to go now. But the time will come, think
when | shall go over. | want to se
what they do there, and l want to SCI
how they do it. 1 do not want to be look
ing through the gates ajar forever.
want them to swing open, There ar
10000 things | want explained-about you
of this world, about God, abou
everything. We start in plai
path of what we know, and in
minute come up against high wall o
what we do not know l wonder how
looks over there. Somebody tells me it i
like paved city-paved with gold; an
another man tells me it is like fountain
and it is. like tree, and it is like tri
umphal procession, and the next man
meet tells me it is all figurative. I reall
want to know, after the body is resur
rected, what they wear and what the.
eat and l have an immeasurable curiosit
to know what it is, and how it is, an
| ~ 10. SUluluDuS LlShtu llLG v
find this continent, and shall we shudde
to go out on voyage of discovery whicl
shall reveal a vaster and more differen
country John Franklin risked HI
life to find passage betweel
icebergs, and shall we dread to find a pas
sage to eternal summera Men in Swift
zerland travel up the heights of the Mat
terhorn with alpenstock and guides ant
rockets and ropes, and getting half wa,
up, stumble and fall down in terribl
massacre. They just want to say the,
had been on the tops of those high peaks
And shall we fear to go out for the ascen
OF the eternal hills, which start tbor
sand miles beyond where stop the higheS
peaks of the Alps, and when in that a!
cent there is no peril9 A man doomed t
die stepped on the scaffold and said in JOY
"Now in ten minutes l will know th
great secret.n One minute after the vita
functions ceased the little child that died las
night in Montague street knew more tina
Jonathan Edwards, or St. Paul him
this world, Or DEATH if you please to ca
it, to the Christian is glorious expla
nation. 1t is demonstration. 1t is illu
mination II is sunburst, 1t is une opening
of ell the windows. 1t is shutting III
the catechism of doubt and the unrollinl
Of all the scrolls of positive and &C
curate information. Instead of stand
ing at the foot of the ladder and looking
up, it is standing at the top of tn
ladder and looking. down. It is the las
mystery taken out ~ botany, and geology
and astronomy, and theology, Oh, will
not be grand to have all questions an
swered! The perpetually recurring inter
rogation point changed for the mark o
exclamation. All riddles solved. VIII
will fear to go out on that discovery when a
the questions are to be decided which we hav
been discussing all our livesi Who shall nc
clap his hands in the anticipation of tina
blessed country ,ititb be no better than throug
holy curiosity, crying; "The time of my de